THE park manager at Lochore Meadows is hoping CCTV cameras will have captured the vandals who caused "significant damage".

Ian Laing said barriers had been moved and a 4x4 vehicle had driven over the display area last night, leaving deep tyre tracks on grass that had only recently been repaired.

He told the Times: "Our hope remains that the CCTV cameras will identify whoever is responsible and we can put a stop to this.

"The simple fact is they're not meant to be there."

Mr Laing explained: "What's happened is someone's been here in a 4x4 doing hand-brake turns on the big grassy area.

"We have had problems before, mostly with motorbikes which is a local issue, but this time it was definitely a car.

"They'd left wrappers from Burger King, they don't have another restaurant nearby, so we suspect they'd been to the one at Kinross before they came here."

He continued: "If they're identified we'll go to the police who I think will deal with it as an anti-social behaviour offence rather than just vandalism.

"There are numerous CCTV cameras around the building and car park so there's a good chance we'll find out who it is.

"Images from the CCTV have been used before by police to investigate vehicles coming in and out of the park so hopefully they can do the same this time."

The vandalism is all the more galling as the area that was damaged – used in the past for events like the music festival Rockore – had only recently been repaired.

Mr Laing said: "Over the course of the summer Benarty Events Group had got a big tractor down there to re-sow grass seed and carry out improvements, a significant amount of effort and expenditure was put in.

"We've not even had a single event on it and now the grass is damaged. I'm sure they'll be as bitterly disappointed as I am.

"The ground is still fairly firm at the moment with snow and ice. It's unsightly and it may repair itself over time or it may need to be repaired. We don't know right now."

It's not the first incident they've had as, bizarrely, a vehicle was driven into the loch itself last week.

Mr Laing said: "That was certainly weird. Some of the grass at the access road was damaged.

"It was at the gravel area next to the outdoor education building where someone had clearly reversed a 4x4 into the loch for some reason.

"How far they got in is impossible to say but the marks in the ground indicate it had gone into the loch to some extent.

"We don't know if it was the same vehicle as this incident."